Man Dies In Wreck With Train Truck Driver Hits Moving Locomotive

The driver of a semitrailer truck was killed on Tuesday when his truck slammed into a locomotive east of Canal Point, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.

The driver, identified only as a 54-year-old Palm Beach County man, was killed instantly just after 3:30 p.m.

The train, owned by U.S. Sugar Corp., was hit by the truck, which was contracted by Osceola Farms Co. to transport sugar cane, said Bill Tarr of the Osceola Farms Co.

The truck was carrying sugar cane when it struck the back quarter of the locomotive, which was pulling no cars, said Robert Coker, spokesman for U.S. Sugar.

``It had just pulled out of the mill yard,`` Coker said of the locomotive.

Coker theorized that the locomotive probably had just dropped off sugar cane to the mill for processing and was preparing to cross a canal to head out to the fields when the truck hit it.

The force of the collision ripped the cab of the truck from its frame, and its trailer was dragged onto the bridge. The locomotive derailed, but did not fall from the bridge into the canal, troopers said.

Three people aboard the locomotive sustained minor injuries, Coker said.

Traffic on U.S. 98 about four miles northeast of Pahokee was halted by the accident and the cleanup for several hours, troopers said.

Coker said the railroad crossing lights and bells were activated at the time of the collision.

``The signalization that was there at the crossing -- we have felt and everyone else has felt -- has been sufficient. It`s a very unfortunate accident,`` Coker said.

Trooper Dairent Beavers, the accident investigator, said it is not known why the truck failed to stop.

``There was no evidence that he even tried to stop. And there`s no way he couldn`t have seen that train coming in that area,`` Beavers said.